Trimming the sails. The comparative political economy of expansionary fiscal consolidations. A Hungarian perspective

Provides a multidisciplinary and systematic analysis of the concept of fiscal consolidations. This book discusses the concept, suggesting that fiscal adjustment can be in trade-off with economic growth if certain conditions are met. Fiscal consolidation has significant short term costs which dampen economic growth. This widely shared consensus in literature on political economy makes fiscal adjustment highly unpopular. Benczes conducts a systematic analysis to find out whether it is possible to have fiscal consolidation and experience economic growth even in the short run.The book provides a clear, multidisciplinary and systematic analysis of the relatively new concept of the so-called expansionary fiscal consolidations. This concept suggests that fiscal adjustment can be in trade-off with economic growth if certain conditions are met. But why do only a few countries and only at certain times experience the expansionary effects, while others not at all? The necessary conditions and circumstances have been totally neglected in the literature, or analyzed only partially at best.Having evolved a theoretical framework, it is tested on a difficult case: Hungary, which has had the highest deficit in the European Union. The main question was whether Hungary has a chance to experience short term growth effects in times of adjustment. ----- Contents: List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements 1. Introduction Part One: A critical Assessment of the Concept of Non-Keynesian Effects 2. Stylized Facts of EU Countries’ Major Fiscal Episodes 3. An Expectational View of Fiscal Policy: A Non-Linear Approach to Fiscal Consolidation 4. The Composition of Adjustment and the Structure of Labor Markets: A Linear Approach to Fiscal Consolidation Part Two: Testing the Institutional Conditions of Non-Keynesian Effects in Hungary 5. From Goulash Communism To Neo-Kadarism: An Overview 6. Financial Intermediation in Hungary—a Comparative Perspective 7. The Structure of the Hungarian General Budget—a Decompositional Analysis 8. The Labor Market and Wage Bargaining in Hungary—the (Ir)relevance of a Social Pact 9. Conclusion References Appendices Index

A neoliberális "kapitalizmus" fogalom megszűnése (The disappearance of the term “neoliberal capitalism”)

A kommunizmusnak – vagy amit a XX. században annak neveztek – a fasizmus nem elfogadható alternatívája. Az elmúlt húsz év meghatározó ideológiai áramlata, a neoliberalizmus ezt nem értette meg. A baloldallal szemben túlzott mértékben lépett fel, míg ezzel szemben a jobboldali szélsőségnek jelentős teret engedett. A szélsőjobboldali szemlélet, az anakronisztikus, barbár provincializmus felszámolásához szükség van a nyugati típusú konzervativizmus és a szociáldemokrácia együttműködésére, a két elméleti irányzat partneri viszonyára. Ehhez mindenekelőtt a neoliberalizmus elméleti meghaladására van szükség. A tanulmányban ezért a neoliberalizmus meghatározó tételeinek kritikáját végezzük el annak érdekében, hogy az új világrendhez igazodó elméleti keret kialakulásához hozzájáruljunk. _____ The acceptable alternative of communism, or what it had been called in the 20th century, is not fascism. The mainstream in the ideology of the last couple of decades, neo-liberalism, has not understood this statement. It allows too wide range for the extremists in the far right; however, in the other side it was too rigid with the left. To terminate the barbarian, anachronistic provincialism in the far right, cooperation between the neo-conservativism prevailing in the West and the social democrat movement is needed. The partnership between the two streams is inevitable. In order to achieve this goal the first step is the debate with the theoretical background of the neo-liberal way of thinking. The main purpose of this paper is to start this discussion hoping that we can contribute to the new theoretical framework in the social sciences.